Routers

With the modern home connected to gaming consoles, smart TVs, MacBooks, and smartphones, the home wireless router is the foundation which handles your home’s demand for Wi-Fi connectivity. When choosing a router to manage your home network, there’s a few important question you should ask before making the decision.

Size of your wireless coverage area

Types of devices that will connect

Number of devices required connecting at once

Most households won’t need a high-performance model; even mid-priced home routers perform remarkably well. But if you have several family members contending for bandwidth streaming YouTube videos or playing CounterStrike, a new router will do more to provide a seamless online experience than perhaps any other network product.

To help you find the very best routers under $100 – routers that offer a home all of the features you’ll – we’ve put together this quick guide.

Considering the Archer C1900 is usually available for sub$100, this would have to be one of the best deals on the market. TP-Link has designed their AC1900 router to handle even the toughest homes, with the buyer reviews proving how respected the unit is by the market.

#2. – TP-LINK Archer C7 AC1750

Provides a rock-solid network foundation for anyone apart from the not demanding users.

3x external antennae creates one of the largest WiFi coverage areas for a Home Router

IP-based Bandwidth Control makes it easier for you to manage the bandwidth of individual devices

Supports the latest WiFi standards so your devices are connected at the fastest wireless speeds achievable

The single-core processor provides performance marginally under the #1 ranked TP-Link AC1900. If you have more than four wired Gigabit performance sensitive devices, I recommend the AC1900 listed above.

The USB port is a handy addition for a simple way to store photos or videos in a central location and has them available on your tablet, smartphone, and laptop whenever you need them.

Available in 3 separate models, make sure to purchase the router + modem if your internet provider hasn’t supplied their modem.

Wi-Fi speed for both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz up to 900Mbps make it ideal for bandwidth demanding tasks such as HD video streaming, multiplayer gaming.

Built-in Wi-Fi amplifiers make the RT-N66 the perfect wireless router for larger, multi-level homes and buildings with signal range that reaches virtually any area

This fantastic device allows connections to both 3G and 5G meaning that any guests in your home don’t have to be using up all the bandwidth as they can connect to a 3G home network. Funnily enough, this option is popular with parents as they can reduce their children’s connection at any time.

After a few changes, you can slow the connection or only change the password to make it impossible for those who don’t have it to sign in.

#5. – NETGEAR N750

Perfect for large homes that struggle with wireless coverage. The wireless extender add-on’s plug into any power outlet to create a larger WiFi network.

With the DLNA and USB ports, Netgear has produced a router that’s perfect for buyers who regularly use video and photos across their devices.

Mac users will love the peace of mind enabled with the inbuilt Time Machine, which creates automatic back-ups to a USB hard drive.

The NETGEAR N750, although last on the list, is as good a choice as any of the others here. Its ability to handle high-speed connections is second to none, as is its ability to provide multiple users as much bandwidth as required. Whether you want to play games online, download big files, stream HD quality films or TV shows – this device is perfect for you.

This Netgear router is an attractive choice for buyers who enjoy video games.

#6. – TP-LINK TL-WDR3600 Wireless N600 Dual Band Router

WiFi speeds can be a little hit or miss when at the outer limits of the network range

Onboard security features aren’t as robust as other routers bring to the table

Built-in media server can be a little bit tough to setup the first time around

The simultaneous network connections are the real star of the show here, making sure that the wifi antennas broadcast plenty of high-speed connections to all of your devices without any trouble at all.

Security features are a little bit light for sure, but this is still one of the better wireless routers priced under $100.

So there we have it, a short list of the best five routers for those looking to spend $100 or less. High-quality routers are no longer bank breakers, and this needs to be taken advantage of; if you get frustrated every single day at your routers lack of power, why not consider getting one of the devices listed above to save any further frustrations?

#7. – Afoundry Wireless Router

The Afoundry Wireless Router is often the choice for those with a larger than average home as it is well-known for its long distance connectivity. Similarly, this is a great option if you have many walls in between the spot for your router and a particular device.

With the capability to handle up to 50 devices, it’s hard to find faults for this particular router and can be great if you host a lot of parties or even for a business that uses any different devices.

Home Router Feature Checklist

Will it fit my internet speed? – A concern that many people have is whether a particular router can handle fast internet speeds. Anything under 100mb/s tends to be fine, and you shouldn’t have to pay too much attention to what you are buying, but anything bigger than that will require caution. When purchasing a product, be sure to check the packaging as this will tell you everything you need to know. For example, you should find the exact speeds that each Ethernet port can handle on the back, don’t just take the big exclamation on the front to be true as there is also likely to be a little asterisk that explains why most people won’t reach this speed.

On the whole, anything under 100mbs will be fine with all five of the products we have for you on this list.

How do I make my WiFi faster? – The majority of your speed comes down to the device itself, but not many people realize that they could be making simple mistakes which are severely slowing down their connection speed. For example, if you have your router tucked away in the corner of your home, it may not reach to rooms on the other side of the house. It is much better to place it in the center of your home as this will provide the best overall coverage.

It is important to note that the amount of walls between the router and you will also make a difference. If you want the main computer in your house to have the strongest connection, limit the amount of walls between the router and the computer. Furthermore, keeping your router on the floor will also harm connectivity as you are sending additional signals to the floor. Ultimately, every house is different, so it can be beneficial to test many different spots until you find the best place for you.